This invention relates to apparatus and method for binding together a plurality of sheets of a set into a booklet.
A finisher for producing stapled booklets from copies of a set of documents produced on a copier/duplicator or the like is known in the art. See, for example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,672 which issued on Jan. 16, 1979 in the name of Burlew et al entitled COPIER FINISHER FOR AN ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCING DEVICE. The Burlew et al patent discloses a recirculating document feeder which feeds a set of document sheets seriatim, beginning with the last sheet in the set, to an exposure station at a platen of a copier/duplicator or the like. The sheets are exposed at the platen and copies are produced by the copier/duplicator. The copy sheets are fed to a copier finisher which inverts the sheets and delivers them to a finishing tray. A set of sheets received by the tray are jogged to align adjacent sheets, and then one or more staples are applied to form a stapled booklet. Then the finished booklet is removed from the assembly tray and transported to a tote tray for removal by the operator.
It is also known to bind together sheets of a booklet by applying adhesive to the edge of the sheets. This is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,071 entitled SHEET BINDING APPARATUS which issued on Feb. 22, 1977 in the names of Snellman et al. In the Snellman et al patent sheets first are delivered to a sorter, collator or the like and jogged to align their edges. Then glue is applied to an endless belt, and the belt is moved into engagement with edges of the sheets in the compartments of the sorter, collator or the like to deposit the glue on the edges. Similar disclosures can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,831; 4,116,750; and 4,145,241.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,880 issued on Oct. 8, 1968 in the name of H. R. Porter, Jr. et al for a Gluing Attachment For a Collating Machine. The apparatus disclosed in the Porter Jr. et al patent comprises a collator having plural stations located adjacent a conveyor for holding stacks of sheets, and sheet transfer means at each station for transferring individual sheets therefrom onto the conveyor. As each sheet is lifted from the stack and placed on the conveyor a small spot of glue is applied to the sheet so that when the sheets are assembled into a booklet the glue is effective to hold the sheets together.
Most of the apparatus discussed above which secure sheets together with an adhesive apply the adhesive to side edges of sets of sheets only after they have been assembled in a collator and not while the sheets are being delivered seriatim directly from a high speed reproducing apparatus, such as a modern copier/duplicator. However, there is a definite need for an "on line" binder which can handle copies furnished at high delivery rates directly from a copier/duplicator or the like, such as disclosed for a stapler-finisher in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,672, discussed above. The apparatus and method of the present invention fulfill such need.